The chief executive of KBC Bank Ireland has said its mortgage loan book is in better shape than may at first appear, and that a sizeable pile of impaired loans won’t stop it from eyeing Irish acquisitions.

Calls for newly-appointed Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy to scrap the help-to-buy scheme are quickly becoming the consensus, as one leading banking figure becomes the latest voice to state it is doing more harm than good.

KBC Bank Ireland which is positioning itself as a “challenger bank” to the main mortgage lenders has signalled that cuts to its fixed rate mortgages are likely coming to an end.

The chief executive of KBC Ireland said that the road is probably narrowing for the prospects of further reductions in home loans.

KBC Bank Ireland is attracting new business with its low mortgage rates and will compete with any new mortgage entrants on price, its chief executive has vowed.

KBC Bank Ireland has reported a profit after tax and impairment costs of €18m and increased its share of the mortgage market to 15% in the second quarter of the year.

KBC Bank Ireland has posted its first quarterly net profit since the height of the financial crisis here, and has made a robust defence against critics who accuse Irish lenders of charging customers too much for their mortgage home loans.

KBC Bank Ireland lost €91m last year as impairment costs continued to weigh on its financial performance.

KBC Group, Belgium’s biggest bank by market value, pumped €130m into its Irish unit last month, bringing the bailout bill to about €1.38bn, as the lender continues to grapple with losses following the property crash.

KBC Ireland remains confident of turning a profit by 2016 despite reporting a second-quarter loss of €34m after tax and impairment costs yesterday.

KBC Bank Ireland has reported a loss (after tax and impairment costs) of €34m for the second quarter of this year.

The Irish operation of KBC bank has reported losses of €40m for the first three months of the year following on from a loss of €766m for the last three months of 2013, due mainly to its residential loan book.

KBC Bank Ireland reported a loss of €17.1m after tax and impairment costs for Q1 2014, compared to a loss of €46.4m for the same period in 2013, it was announced today.

KBC Ireland made a loss of €864m last year as it ramped up loan impairments over the fourth quarter.

KBC chief executive John Reynolds resigned on the same day as the bank announced it is significantly increasing bad loan provisions for the year.